Tips For 2009: Part 2

More mystical preditions for a musical future

December 30, 2008, 01:34 PM

Views: 2849   Comments: 1

Ok so you read Part 1 with great interest right? (if not then click on the link further down). Well now two more Altsounds editors offer up their 'Tips For 2009', which means 7 more great acts to help you wash away those post Christmas/New Year blues. Who knows what the coming year holds for this lot.....well Mark and Lina think they do actually - success in some form or another. Now it's important to remember that none of us are saying that any of these acts will top the charts, but we do believe they are worth keeping an eye on over the next 12 months, and beyond.

To read Part 1 again (you know you want to), go here: http://hangout.altsounds.com/features/104382-tips-for-2009-part-1-a.html#post110717

Now turn off that Enya CD that "you didn't ask for - honest" and pay attention......this is important.


Mark aka ‘Mark191082’

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart




Band:
Alex: Bass
Kip: Guitar, Vocals
Kurt: Drums
Peggy: Keyboard, Vocals

Bio: The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart are a New York four-piece (who have emerged from the vibrant new indie scene in Brooklyn with Vivian Girls, label mates Crystal Stilts and Arms) that make glorious, joyful, breathless noise-pop built on spangly guitars and the gently canoodling boy/girl vocals of Kip and Peggy. Though the band may hail from the USA, their sound reveals an equal appreciation for classic Scottish and English pop, joining the dots between The Smiths, the C86 bands, early MBV, shoegaze and Belle & Sebastian.

Mine For ‘09 Because: This band create the sort of music that is both sonically beautiful with gentle nods to bands of the past such as the mooted link to My Bloody Valentine in a musical sense and Belle & Sebastian in a lyrical sense, but it's their way of crafting the sort of pop tunes that have been plucked still beating from the inner sanctum of a still beating heart that's currently experiencing what can only be described a sexual experience involving, angels, cake, and the soundtrack to the world's greatest love-in (no Barry White here!). Or, as they put it themselves, blissful melodies and blistering drums.

When I listen to The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart I get the sudden uncontrollable urge to throw my body about like Bez after a shandy and this, people of the world is what we all need in our lives right now. Forget the credit-crunch worries, forget the woes of Britney Spears life, forget that life as we know it is currently disappearing down the shit-hole, and embrace The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart because after all is that not what we are feeling the pains that we are all pure of heart deep down.

Web: www.thepainsofbeingpureatheart .com
MySpace:http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.view Profile&friendID=152783617




Zoey Van Goey




Band: Matt Brennan, Michael John McCarthy & Kim Moore

Bio: Zoey Van Goey are a band made up of Matt Brennan, Michael John McCarthy, and Kim Moore. Hailing from Canada, Ireland, and England respectively, they met in Glasgow, Scotland, and started making music together in 2006.

In 2007, Stuart Murdoch of Belle and Sebastian produced the band's debut single, "Foxtrot Vandals." It was chosen as "single of the week" by Jim Gellatly on XFM Scotland, and the band got to play a live session on BBC Radio Scotland. The Zoeys also embarked on a short tour with Falkirk art-rockers Y'all Is Fantasy Island and novelist Alan Bissett. Dubbed the Super Puny Humans, the shows featured performances by both bands as well as sections with everyone onstage, with Bissett reading from his novels while both bands provided musical backing.

In 2008, the band did more shows and recently released another single, "Sweethearts In Disguise," which was produced by Paul Savage (formerly of the Delgados) and featured Mr. Bob Kildea of Belle and Sebastian, who laid down a mean bass line. Then, without a transit van, they begged their friends with cars to help them travel to various fields in the UK, where they played festivals like Rockness, T In The Park, Wickerman, Indietracks, Live at Loch Lomond, and Connect.

Mine For ’09 Because: Zoey Van Goey are the natural successors to Bell & Sebastian in making perfect three-minute pop songs that are filled with all the essential ingredients a three-minute pop song should have such as sweet soulful vocals, instantly catchy hooks, jangly bits and bobs, & of course they make you smile and move. With songs about romance to songs about damn primal dirtiness they cover all the necessary bases and make a sound reminiscent of the finest pop songs The Cure have knocked out all be it The Cure if they wore tweed instead of black.

I also have a soft spot for this band as drummer Matt Brennan tutored me at University and was a thoroughly lovely chap who just had this love of music that was very contagious, he also had incredibly weird Canadian mannerisms that cracked us up; who says 'Jumpins', utter genius. You can hear the love of music in everything Zoey Van Goey produce and in 2009 i would hope we are going to hear a lot more of their bright little ditty's and if we don't well I will lose faith in this great land of music.

Myspace:http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.view Profile&friendID=110235835



Cut Off Your Hands




Band:
Nick Johnson: Vocals
Michael Ramirez: Guitar
Phil Hadfield: Bass
Brent Harris: Drums

Bio: The Auckland based band include Gang of Four, The Cure, Death From Above 1979, Whirlwind Heat, Joy Division, Split Enz, and James Chance & The Contortions among the chief influences on their skittering brand of proto-punk styled indie rock. Their self produced debut EP “Shaky Hands” was released in August 2006 on Speak N Spell, and includes the singles “You and I” and “Expectations”.

Formerly known as Shaky Hands, the band decided to change their name due to a threat of legal action from a similarly-named American band (The Shaky Hands). As their EP was intended to be titled “Cut Off Your Hands”, they simply decided to switch their artist name with the EP title.

Mine For ‘09 Because: Cut Off Your Hands surely beat Crowded House hands down when it comes to best band from New Zealand, unless there's some kind of travelling Lord Of The Rings band that I don't know about?!? They are punky and funky; two words that conveniantly rhyme and yet describe Cut Off Your Hands nicely.

Something about them reminds me of an incredible pop version of The Smiths I think it's the Marr-esque guitar playing as there is no Morrissey comparison, yet for all their influences it's more recent bands that spring to mind in The Strokes and Foals that Cut Off Your Hands resemble which certainly is and intriguing little mix.

Web: Cut Off Your Hands
Myspace:http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.view Profile&friendID=14637967





Bill Ryder-Jones




Bio: Bill Ryder-Jones was former guitarist of Liverpool country-pop outfit The Coral, he recently left the band after joining as a 16 year-old in order to sample life a little bit outside of a band environment.

Recently putting up some new songs on his MySpace, Ryder-Jones is showing a different take on the swagger that encapsulated his former band by recording predominantly acoustic soundtrack inspired tracks.

Mine For ‘09 Because: Bill Ryder-Jones was at the heartbeat of The Coral whom I think were one of the best bands of the last 10 years. His guitar playing inspired their work and in his recent solo efforts he has shown a more matured sound evoking memories the likes of Leonard Cohen and Nick Drake.

Though this new sound is quite a departure from The Coral I believe we will see bigger and better things from Ryder-Jones in 2009 be that through soundtrack work, production, or solo releases. This is a talent we should get used to hearing about I feel.

MySpace:http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.view Profile&friendID=157652652



Lina aka ‘Lina Riot’

Dananananaykroyd




Band: Duncan Robertson , Big Boy Roy , Laura Donaghey , Calum Gunn , John Baillie Junior , Paul Carlin

Bio: Danananaykroyd formed in January 2006, when Multiplies, the former band of members James Hamilton and David Roy, disbanded. Calling on friends from the Glasgow music scene, they formed the original line-up.
In 2006 they released two limited edition 7" singles, 'Totally Bone' and 'Some Dresses' on Moshi Moshi and Jealous Records respectively. A Japan-only CD EP, collecting both singles, was later released on Tokyo's Klee/Rallye records. In November 2006, Dananananaykroyd headlined a charity gig organised by Glasgow independent promoters 'Nuts and Seeds' (run by band members Giles Bailey and Duncan Robertson) at Glasgow’s Oran Mor venue, which was their last gig before the departure of vocalist Giles. The band's new line-up featured former drummer Calum Gunn on lead vocals and John Baillie Junior on drums and, later, additional lead vocals.
Since then, Dananananaykroyd have released their first EP, Sissy Hits, on London-based Holy Roar Records in June 2008. The band embarked on a brief UK tour to promote the EP - their last shows with that record's line-up, as not long after, drummer James Hamilton left the band to focus on his other band Errors. The new line-up, featuring ex-Russia drummer Paul Carlin, signed an album deal with Best Before Records shortly thereafter and are currently readying their debut full-length album (recorded in the US with producer Machine). The band toured with Johnny Foreigner during Autumn 2008 and are currently on a UK tour with Foals. November sees them embark on a headline UK tour.

Mine For ‘09 Because: Okay, so other than the ridiculous name (a play on the actors name Dan Aykroyd) and the fact that they're currently on tour supporting Kaiser Cheifs (yep, let's just completely try and forget that last bit, shall we?), I have to say I'm pretty excited about their upcoming debut album that they're currently in the process of making. The Glaswegian six-piece boasts two drummers that play in unison to what they call "fight-pop", and actually they've done pretty well this year so I'm not sure how ahead of the game I'm being by picking them. Going only since 2006, with some serious line-up changes along the way, they are now on Best Before Records and have released their first single with them in October this year (‘Pink Sabbath’) to much critical acclaim. If you like your music lo-fi and punchy, this is for you. Earlier releases include their first EP "Sissy Hits" on Holy Roar Records, which was out summer ‘08.

Web: DANANANANAYKROYD
MySpace:http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.view Profile&friendID=40778019



TacocaT




Band:
Emily Nokes: Vocals, tambo, kazoo
Lelah Maupin: Drums, vocals
Eric Randall: Guitar, vocals
Bree McKenna: Bass, vocals

Bio: A four piece hailing from Seattle, TacocaT are a palendromic quartet of longtime friends (featuring members of The Trashies and Os Coyotes) who started playing at house parties. Expect lo-fi riot-pop of the highest quality with lyrical content primarily comprising of straight-forward takes on feminine issues, dead celebrities (both actual and imagined) and love songs extolling the virtues of novelty candies and basements. Before now they have endured a west coast tour deprived of a van with intact windows while the guitarist was being prosecuted by the state of Texas. Next time around they had a new mini-van, none of them were on probation and they toured the whole U.S.A. in support of their album ‘Shame Spiral’.

Mine For ‘09 Because: Small Seattle outfit TacocaT on teeny tiny label Don't Stop Believin' are another band I'd really like to see smash it over here. For fans of Riot Grrrl and Be Your Own Pet this is an absolute must. I doubt they'll really get an opportunity to come over here (UK) and break through as such, but wouldn't it be great if they could?

MySpace:http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.view Profile&friendID=172122215



Soko




Bio: SoKo (born Stéphanie Sokolinski) is a French singer and actress. She was born in Bordeaux in France to a Polish family and has been called Soko as far back as she can remember. She has appeared in several French movies, and got her start as a singer after she asked the director if she could sing on screen.
In 2007, she had a big hit in Denmark with her song "I'll Kill Her" after the radio program The Black Boy Scouts started hyping the song. The song reached number one on the chart of the Danish version of the iTunes Store and was the number one song in rotation on radio. The song is also a hit in Australia, being played on high rotation on Triple J radio (where it placed number nine in Triple J Hottest 100 2007 music poll), in Belgium being played by Studio Brussel and Radio 1, and in The Netherlands, being picked up by 3FM radio station. In October 2007 her music was featured in Stella McCartney’s fashion show in Paris. She toured in the UK in late 2007 supporting M.I.A. on the KALA Tour. Since early 2008 she is also played in Germany by 1LIVE, first only at night in 1Live Plan B but later, due to high demand, throughout the whole day.
She has not put out a full album, but has released an EP ‘Not Sokute’ with five songs. Nevertheless, she has had sold-out concerts in Denmark. She is set to perform at the Falls Festival at the end of 2008, as well as in Brisbane, Australia in 2009 at the Sunset Sounds Festival. She is currently working on putting out a full length album which should debut in February 2009.


Mine For ‘09 Because: The one final artist I really need to squeeze in here is Soko, although again at this point I doubt she even needs it as she's been doing so well recently. I've had my eye on this little lady for about two years, ever since I came across the infamous ‘I'll Kill Her’ and promptly put a video of it on my MySpace page. I haven't taken it off since. She's currently working on her debut album that should be released early next year, and I'm not entirely sure how she's not bigger right now, but I predict that when she gets her album out, she will be MAS-SIVE. Probably to the point that they'll then be a major backlash and I'll regret writing this.

Web: SoKo
MySpace:http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.view Profile&friendID=94795730





Of course, it’s not all about new acts. 2009 will see the welcome return of some older favourites. January sees the return of perhaps the most exciting band on the planet right now. After the truly stunning ‘Strawberry Jam’, and Panda Bear’s very own poll-topping ‘Person Pitch’, Animal Collective return with ‘Merriweather Post Pavilion’, and word on the street is that it could eclipse all they have produced so far (they have even been involved in their own album track leak drama – a sure sign of how far they have come). A short UK tour around the same time as its release will offer fans an early insight into how it will fit into their legendary live set.

Also in early ’09 we have the return of fantastically monikered ..And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead return with ‘The Century of Self’. Fans were offered a glimpse late this year, with two of the tracks, ‘Bells of Creation’ and ‘Inland Sea’ featuring on their ‘Festival Thyme’ EP. After two slightly disappointing albums, the signs are that they are getting back to their more cohesive best.

Who else? Well, it’s highly likely that 2009 is going to see the return of both The Strokes AND Arcade Fire, with both now working on new albums for many of us to get excited about. There’s also fresh offerings from Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Franz Ferdinand, Beirut, Secret Machines, The Von Bondies, Gallows, Idlewild & Eagles of Death Metals, PLUS old timers such Bruce Springsteen, PJ Harvey, The Prodigy, Deftones, Manic Street Preachers, Morrissey, Depeche Mode, Green Day, The Lemonheads and Pet Shop Boys. Something for almost everyone then. Here’s to ’09 – ‘clink’.

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